Putting Educational Innovations into Practice.

Lesson Planning

What information is necessary in order to have a lesson plan that is clear and ready to use? Obviously, the content standard is a given because we are not going to spend time on something that doesn't register on the standard scale.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mima Frangu on March 25, 2009 at 12:08pm

Here is my final version of the Lesson Plan:

Attachments:

Lesson Planfinalfinal.docx, 55 KB

Permalink Reply by Gayle Spencer on March 16, 2009 at 2:15pm

Claude: As with the others, this is a good beginning. I'm unclear as to what the evidence is; is it a lab book entry, a journal response, a content reflection, a worksheet?
Opening:What will be the exact prompt you will use to initiate the discussion?
Closure:What question will you use to cue the students to summarize (causing them to think more deeply)?

Permalink Reply by Martha H. Rodriguez on March 14, 2009 at 3:51pm

This is my lesson plan

Attachments:

Lesson Plan - Backwards Design.doc, 82 KB

Permalink Reply by sandee nagayama on March 14, 2009 at 3:53pm

http://dev.sciencecourseware.org/vcise/NaturalSelection/

Attachments:

waterfleas.doc, 81 KB

Permalink Reply by Gayle Spencer on March 26, 2009 at 10:58am

You're used to this template aren't you, Sandee? Connections: what question will you ask that will provide you the information you seek? Evidence: what is the actual product that will provide the evidence of learning? A poster, a completed graphic organizer, a reflection/summarization, etc? Or maybe that section has been switched with the Learning Outcomes? I'd like the plan to be even more transparent and in depth so you have more to reflect on when you do the lesson the next year.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Adams on March 14, 2009 at 3:56pm

This is a work in progress....

Attachments:

Natural Selection LessonPlanBackwardsDesign.dot, 81 KB

Permalink Reply by Gayle Spencer on March 25, 2009 at 1:49pm

Hi Tiffany. Let's look first at the making connections section in the upper right area. Since all students carry unique, yet traceable characteristics, how would you introduce this topic to ENGAGE the students? What questions would you ask them ,or what pictures/graphics could you show them to get them thinking about the content?
Next, how would you introduce the vocabulary so they begin to develop a deep understanding of it?

Permalink Reply by Samuel Jaramillo on March 14, 2009 at 4:05pm

Here is an introductory lesson to a unit on genetics.

Attachments:

Genetics Lesson.dot, 80 KB

Permalink Reply by Gayle Spencer on March 26, 2009 at 10:21am

Good start Samuel and a nice vocabulary development strategy. In your closure piece, after writing their summarization, what will they do with that information? Perhaps randomly choosing students to read their responses, or having them share with a partner, then share out with the class after coming to consensus?
Then in the differentiation piece, what about students who lack the skills necessary to read any content at grade level? What can you do to provide access to the lab for them? (I have two middle school science teachers in my office right now who have found this to be an issue)

Permalink Reply by pitacoche on March 14, 2009 at 4:19pm

This is just a rough draft

Attachments:

LessonPlanBackwardsDesign.dot, 74 KB

Permalink Reply by Gayle Spencer on March 26, 2009 at 10:50am

This is a good beginning Noe. In the Opening, I would suggest offering more than 1 example of an inherited trait to make a connection and engage students. Next, what strategy will you use to introduce the academic vocabulary in order to develop a deep understanding of their meaning? For your Closure, I offer the same suggestion as I did to Samuel. What will you have them do with their reflection after they write it? Will they share, come to consensus, verbalize it to the class?
How do you know what your students already know about this content? What question can you ask that gives you this information so you know, not only what they know, but what misinformation they may have?

Permalink Reply by Frank on March 31, 2009 at 1:41pm

Noe,

Lesson plan is looking pretty good, try making some connections to prior knowledge as well. I try and use analogies & compare new concepts to their life experiences. I also do something very similar to the widow's peak in my class, I use a genetics survey and take about 5-10 minutes to complete it in class. We then spend another 5 minutes to talk about results and then that usually leads them to determine the difference between DOMINANT and recessive traits. I'll post a link to the worksheet I use, I've used this in both a high school & a middle school class.

http://biologycorner.com/worksheets/geneticsurvey.htm